DDCA row: BJP says Kejriwal should publicly apologise to Jaitley

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tore into Arvind Kejriwal over a probe report into alleged irregularities in the functioning of the Delhi cricket body on Sunday, saying the Delhi chief minister should publicly apologise to Union finance minister Arun Jaitley for dragging him into the row.

A combination photograph of BJP's MJ Akbar and AAP's Ashutosh. The two leaders held back-to-back press conferences on Sunday as the BJP demanded an apology from AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal for linking Arun Jaitley to the DDCA row.

An angry BJP came out all guns blazing on Sunday and demanded that Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal should apologise before the public and Arun Jaitley for linking the finance minister to alleged irregularities in the city’s cricket body.

BJP spokesperson MJ Akbar said Kejriwal should also admit his fault in court — where he faces civil and criminal defamation suits filed by Jaitley — and pointed out the report of a city government-appointed panel probing the allegations had no mention of the finance minister.

“The truth is out. The report does not name Jaitley. There is no allegation against him. You don’t run government with tamasha,” Akbar said, lashing out at the AAP regime that has repeatedly levelled accusations against the senior BJP leader.

Minutes later, the AAP fired back in an apparent tit-for-tat response as Kejriwal questioned an apparent fear of facing a probe, insisting on Twitter that “AAP takes strong n swift action on credible evidence.”

HT reported on Friday that the report submitted by a three-member panel set up by the AAP government to investigate corruption claims in the Delhi and District Cricket Association had no mention of Jaitley, who headed the body for over a decade.

The 237-page report pointed out several alleged irregularities but Jaitley’s name didn’t figure anywhere, dampening the AAP’s sustained propaganda against the senior BJP leader.

“Jaitley committed no mistake. But I think Kejriwal committed every mistake. Now the CM himself is trapped...his own team has found no allegation against Jaitley,” Akbar added. “The Delhi CM, we believe, should apologise to Jaitley for his allegations. He should publicly apologise.”

BJP national secretary Srikant Sharma challenged both the Congress and the AAP to prove “even one allegation of corruption.”

Taking a tough stand, he also announced even if Kejriwal apologised to Jaitley over the DDCA issue, the defamation suits would continue.

In response, the AAP pointed out that the terms of reference of the report were to look into summary of irregularities or wrongdoings in the DDCA and give suggestions for revamping the body to promote cricket in Delhi, among other things.

The AAP leadership said the contents of the report were “misinterpreted” and said, “AAP condemns the attempts to divert attention from the DDCA corruption through a series of lies and half truths.”

In an interview to PTI, Kejriwal again lashed out at the CBI, which had allegedly raided his office recently, saying, if the agency came to his house, they would only get “unaccounted mufflers”.

“Recently a raid was conducted by Modi ji. Nothing was found. If they raid my house they will find nothing else, but only 4 unaccounted mufflers,” said the CM.